St. Francis parent in tentative deal to transfer hospital to firm

(Crain's) -- The parent company of St. Francis Hospital & Health Center has a tentative deal to transfer ownership of the south suburban facility to a for-profit firm.

St. Louis-based SSM Healthcare, which announced plans last month to close St. Francis because of financial struggles, told employees in a memo Tuesday evening that it has a tentative deal with an investment group, MSMC Investors LLC.

That firm is working with Transition Healthcare LLC, a Chicago-based startup that emerged last year as the only bidder for St. Francis after SSM discussed a sale with more than 20 perspective buyers. Transition's original offer fell through after a different investor pulled out.

"I want to caution you that that this does not mean that any deal has been finalized," Bill Schoenhard, SSM Healthcare's chief operating officer, wrote in the memo. He said SSM hopes to have an announcement by the middle of next week.

Transition was formed by Arnold Kimmel, who in the mid-1990s was interim CEO of Grant Hospital, now Lincoln Park Hospital. He also was an executive at St. Louis-based Ascension Health, one of the nation's largest non-profit hospital chains.